Tag: Avra

Lobster pasta and freshly-caught sea urchins are two of the signature dishes that writer Heather Warburton recommends ordering at Spilia. It was one of her seven favourite restaurants on a recent trip to Mykonos.

Guest post by Heather Warburton

There are many reasons to go to Mykonos—the color of the water alone, the music, and the stunning villas—but, undoubtedly, the food scene will convince you. If you intend to eat light and vegetarian, you’ll find no better place, and then again, if you’re more into feta cheese and baklava, you’ll be just fine, too.

I spent five days in Mykonos in early July, and these were my favorite restaurants:

♦ Scorpios

Scorpios is one of the only places to succeed in being both a terrific restaurant, and a really fun party. On a charming stretch of Paraga Beach, Scorpios is a sprawling compound. There’s an indoor area that’s light and spacious, with comfortable couches and a well-designed bar. If you come early in the day (read: before noon), you might see people working on their laptops sipping a green juice. Outside there is one large bar, a deck, a beach with over 40 lounge “beds,” and finally, a restaurant.

Despite its massive size, Scorpios boasts impeccable, friendly service and an intimate vibe. Graze on tzatziki, hummus, and spicy pita chips while waiting for a table. They’ll be the best pita chips of your life. You’ll find a vegetable driven menu once seated, with Mykonian salads (tomatoes, capers, cucumbers and feta cheese), whole roasted fish with your choice of sauce, and so many others. (I loved the quinoa with raisins and the zucchini with fresh mint). Their cocktail list is particularly impressive and long, with innovative and not-overly-sweet takes on your spirit of choice.

Go for a late lunch or sunset dinner.

A sunset party scene on the Scorpios seafront

Please click on the link below to read about the other 6 restaurants that Heather recommends on Mykonos.

The scenic Mykonos Town harbourfront is part of the panoramic view that guests can enjoy with their meals at Roca Cookery

[Updated on September 18 2015]

Where to eat: Each year I receive scores of requests to offer restaurant recommendations for people planning to visit Mykonos. Since the 2015 travel season is officially underway with Holy Week celebrations for the Greek Orthodox Easter, it’s time for me to start rolling out my annual round-up of places to eat on Mykonos.

This is an informal “work in progress” list of Mykonos restaurants, cafés and tavernas that are either already open for business, or that have announced they will be opening within the next several weeks.

I will update this post regularly as I learn about more places that have opened their doors for the summer, so keep checking back for the latest restaurant additions. As of the latest update, this list includes more than 180 dining establishments.

Keep in mind that this is only a rough guide, and is by no means intended to be a comprehensive catalog of the myriad dining options available on Mykonos. There are more than 400 places to eat on the island so, as a hobby blogger, I couldn’t possibly keep track of them all! But as you’ll quickly see from the listings, you never need to worry about going hungry on Mykonos — the island boasts a vast selection of restaurants ready to satisfy even the fussiest tastes and appetites.

I have arranged the restaurant descriptions and photos according to the establishments’ specific locations on Mykonos; for example, in/near Mykonos Town, at Ano Mera, at a beach or elsewhere on the island. For fast access to restaurant information, here are some quick links:

The new Anna’s Place Restaurant & Bar overlooks Paradise beach from its hillside location next to the Cavo Paradiso nightclub complex. This photo of the restaurant’s beach view appears on the Anna’s Place Facebook page.

New this season: It has been a busy week on Mykonos, and next week will be even busier, as dozens of hotels, restaurants and shops open their doors for Easter celebrations and officially launch their 2014 tourist season.

Several new businesses — restaurants and bars plus Bohème Mykonos, a luxury boutique hotel — are opening for the first time, adding more variety to the island’s diverse and exciting mix of accommodation, drinking, dining and entertainment venues.

New restaurants have already opened at two of the most popular beach resort areas on Mykonos: Anna’s Place Restaurant & Bar at Paradise beach, and Apagio seafood and Aegean cuisine at Ornos. Two more dining spots opening soon in Mykonos Town are the noodle and sushi joint Noodle Mykonos, and the chic new restaurant and cocktail lounge Remezzo Mykonos. And a newcomer to the island’s notoriously intense nightlife scene will be the gay-friendly Sofi’a Thalami Bar.

The colourful logo for Anna’s Place at Paradise beach

Legendary nightclub revived as chic restaurant

If the name Remezzo rings a bell, that’s because it’s the latest incarnation of the legendary nightclub that opened in 1967. Located on the Mykonos Town harbourfront, Remezzo catered to the jet-set party crowd and for decades enjoyed a worldwide reputation as one of the island’s leading dance clubs.

This year, Remezzo is being transformed into what its Facebook page describes as “an exceptional restaurant with sophisticated Mediterranean cuisine and an impressively eclectic international wine list.” It will occupy the “same idyllic setting” near the Old Port as the original bar — upper levels of the big white building near the red-domed church and the neoclassical Mykonos Archaeological Museum, two familiar landmarks near the Mykonos Old Port. (Salparo Seafood and Kavos Cafe occupy the building’s ground level, beside the pedestrian path that leads from the Old Port to little Agia Anna beach in front of the Leto Hotel.)

The Remezzo Mykonos outdoor terrace has superb views of the Old Port, harbour and Mykonos Town waterfront, part of which are visible in this pic of the veranda that I shot three years ago.

Looking toward the big white Remezzo building (center) from little Agia Anna beach at the Mykonos Town harbour.

Seaside seafood and ouzo at Ornos

After eight years, the man who created the popular Ithaki restaurant at Ornos beach has moved on to launch a new venture in premises a short walk away. Sikiniotis Lefteris has opened Apagio Authentic Aegean Cuisine on the east side of Ornos Bay near the Santa Marina Resort & Villas, only a couple of minutes’ walking distance from Ornos beach. (The name is spelled Apagio in some places, and Apaggio in others, but they’re one and the same place.)

The restaurant specializes in fish and seafood, but its menu includes appetizers, salads and some meat and pasta dishes. The Apagio bar serves beer and wine and boasts an impressive selection of more than 40 different raki and ouzo to accompany the delicious appetizers. The restaurant’s indoor dining area faces Ornos Bay, with a wall of glass panels that staff can slide open on beautiful days. Apagio also has a row of outdoor tables right next the seaside, offering unrivaled views of the beach and bay.

Apagio restaurant has a row of seaside tables offering views of Ornos beach and the entire Ornos bay area. The restaurant is located near the entrance to the five-star Santa Marina Resort & Villas. This photo was posted on the Apagio Facebook page by Petro Kalaris.

This photo shows the indoor and seaside dining areas of Apagio restaurant at Ornos. The photo is from the Apagio Facebook page.

Logos for the new Apagio fish and seafood restaurant at Ornos. The restaurant’s bar is stocked with an extensive selection of ouzo and raki.

Asian & Med cuisine in the Italian district

The neighbourhood around Mykonos Town’s Lakka Square is a bustling zone of shops, restaurants and bars close to Fabrica Square (location of the depot for buses servicing Ornos, Agios Ioannis, Psarou, Platis Gialos, Paraga and Paradise beaches). I have often heard people refer to Lakka as “the Italian district” because it’s home to several popular Italian restaurants, including Mediterraneo and Sale e Pepe. A new eatery, Noodle, will add some Asian spice and flavour to the area.

An “Asian fusion” restaurant featuring a noodle and sushi bar and takeout service, Noodle is promising “quick, fresh & healthy” meals. There’s no word yet on the precise date it will be commencing operations — the Noodle Mykonos Facebook page still has an “Opening Soon” banner. [Editor’s update: Noodle will open on April 24.]

Also opening in the Lakka area is Funky Kitchen Mykonos, whose menu will offer Mediterranean cuisine. The restaurant is situated at 40 Ignatiou Basoula, next to Marco Polo Taverna. No photos or further details are available yet.

Noodle Mykonos will bring “quick, fresh & healthy” Asian fusion cuisine to the Lakka restaurant and bar district of Mykonos Town

An image of the restaurant logo, from the Noodle Mykonos Facebook page

Anna’s piece of Paradise

Paradise beach is known around the world as the premier “party beach” on Mykonos, and for good reason — it has a strip of bars hosting wild and crazy daytime beach parties, plus it’s home to the island’s two biggest special entertainment venues, Paradise Club and Cavo Paradiso, where top international DJs spin for events that last from midnight to dawn.

This summer, the Paradise party crowd will have a new spot to drink and dine — Anna’s Place Restaurant & Bar has opened in sea- and beachview premises adjacent to Cavo Paradiso. Anna’s menu includes Greek cuisine as well as seafood, pasta and meat dishes. The restaurant has a sheltered dining room and bar terrace that overlooks Paradise beach and bay.

That’s the same night that Dream City Mykonos will make its grand debut in the Lakka-area location formerly home to Space disco. The new Mykonos club will be a sister to the Dream City restaurant and nightclub at 30 Iera Odos in Athens.

From the ODE Mykonos Facebook page, a view of the nightclub’s outdoor patio

Sophie’s choice for a new gay venue

Sophie, a French “icon” well-known to many of the thousands of gay travellers who visit Mykonos each summer, is opening a new club called Sofi’a in the space formerly occupied by Thalami Bar (the lower back level of the Mykonos municipal building, right next to busy Niko’s Taverna).

Thalami had been around for decades, and was perenially popular for its live Greek music and friendly, social atmosphere. No word yet on when Sofi’a will be opening — there’s no website or Facebook page for it yet, but it’s getting plenty of buzz on social media as people continue to share photos of the bar’s logo (below). [Editor’s update: Sofi’a Bar held an opening party on April 17.]

There is also talk that the Ramrod Club at Taxi Square will be reopening this season, offering gay and gay-friendly visitors another venue to meet and mingle.

A photo of the sign for the new Sofi’a Thalami Bar in Mykonos Town

Mystery hotel opening in May

There are nearly two dozen 5-star hotels on Mykonos, but the vast majority are situated at beach resort areas like Agios Ioannis, Elia, Ornos and Psarou. Only four are either right in Mykonos Town or within a reasonable walking distance of the town center — the Theoxenia, Kouros, Cavo Tagoo and Tharroe. The Theoxenia is the most centrally-located of the bunch, sitting right behind the famous row of windmills at Little Venice. Kouros and Cavo Tagoo are a 10-minute walk away in the seaview Tagoo neighbourhood on the north side of the Old Port, while Tharroe is a slightly longer walk on the south side of town, high above Megali Ammos beach.

The newest member of the Mykonos 5-star club is Bohème Mykonos, which is also on a hill above Megali Ammos but much closer to town than Tharroe. Scheduled to open on May 15, Bohème will boast 20 luxurious suites with contemporary Bohemian decor in a sparkling white building of traditional Cycladic architecture. Bohème is one of 11 Mykonos hotels belonging to Small Luxury Hotels of the World.

This image of a model striking a sultry pose in a seaview swimming pool at sunset appears on the website and Facebook page for the new Bohème Mykonos boutique hotel in Mykonos Town

New 5-star accommodations on site of former budget hotel

Regular Mykonos visitors will be familiar with Bohème’s location — it’s the site formerly occupied by the 2-star Carrop Tree Hotel and Merolayia restaurant.

I’ve been curious to see how Bohème looks, and especially to learn how its creators transformed the old budget-friendly Carrop Tree building into high-end boutique accommodations. Unfortunately, no-one from Bohème, or from its sister hotel, Porto Mykonos, responded to requests for information that I emailed to their website contact addresses and Facebook pages. But perhaps they’re keeping those details under wraps as part of the new hotel’s online promotional campaign, built around the theme “Let’s get lost in the Bohème mystery.”

Indeed, while the Bohème website and the Bohème Mykonos Facebook page both feature impressive photos that photographer Christos Drazos shot of several different suite interiors, there are no images of the hotel’s exterior or main facilities (possibly because they could well have been under renovation at the time the website was constructed). So until guests and passersby begin posting photos online, Bohème’s external appearance will remain secret.

This photo, from the Bohème Mykonos Facebook page, shows the interior of a superior sea view suite

From the Bohème Facebook page, another photo of a suite interior

The budget-priced Carrop Tree Hotel formerly occupied the property where the new 5-star Bohème Mykonos hotel will open on May 15. I shot this photo of the Carrop Tree in May 2012, and am very curious to see how the building has been transformed into its new incarnation as luxury accommodations.

Popular places opening in April

Popular restaurants in Mykonos Town that celebrated the start of the 2014 tourist season this week were D’Angelo and M-eating, which both opened April 10, and Kalita, which welcomed guests on the 11th. Aroma Bar also opened on April 11 with music by DJ Inspiro, while Scarpa nightclub in Little Venice threw its season-opening bash the same night with DJ Valeron. Nammos By the Sea got summer started at Psarou beach with its grand opening on April 12.

Restaurants opening in time for next weekend’s Easter festivities include Bakalo, which has announced it will open on April 14, and Catari on the 15th. Aneplora near Kalafatis beach, plus Marechiaro and Avra Restaurant in Mykonos Town, all will open on April 16 while Jackie O’ Beach at Super Paradise will follow on the 17th, offering a special Easter menu on the weekend. Salparo Seafood near the Old Port has given the trademark red and white fishing boat next to its patio a fresh coat of paint in time for the taverna’s April 17 opening. Karavaki restaurant at the Vencia Hotel also opens on the 17th, while Avli tou Thodori at Platis Gialos starts its season on the 18th.

The Mykonos Town nightlife will pick up steam with three club openings all on April 16 — Semeli Bar in Little Venice plus Astra and the brand-new ODE Mykonos nightclubs, both in the Tria Pigadia area. Over at Panormos beach, Panormos Beach Bar is aiming to open on the 17th.

New this year, L’île Bistrot-Café at 3 Kampani Street quickly became our favourite hangout in Mykonos Town for a coffee, drink or light meal. This photo is from the L’île Bistrot-Café Facebook page.

Repeat and first-time visits: A short holiday on Mykonos this past spring gave us an opportunity to dine at eight different restaurants, including a brand-new café in Mykonos Town, four other spots we had never been to before, our favourite beach taverna, plus two places to which I was eager to pay repeat visits after being highly impressed with them last year.

If you have been a regular reader of the blog, you might recall my restaurant report for 2012, in which I recounted my good experiences at more than a dozen different places. I specifically noted that I didn’t have a single disappointing meal during that holiday, and found restaurant service, overall, to be quite good.

I was anxious to see how Mykonos restaurants would compare this year — and hopeful, of course, that we would enjoy every restaurant and meal.

All quiet on the northern front: Even though it was a gorgeous morning, very few people were out and about when I walked past the Remezzo area of Mykonos Town at 10 a.m.

[Editor’s Note: This is the latest instalment in a series of reports on my 2012 vacation. Those of you who have already read Part 1 and Part 2 may want to go back and take another look through those posts — I have added several videoclips to each part.]

Thursday May 17

Sounds of silence: My fourth day on Mykonos started off with brilliant sunshine and plenty of peace and quiet.

The breakfast room at Hotel Tagoo was almost empty, with just a handful of guests showing up during the time I was there. It seemed like most people were sleeping in to recover from either a late night on the town or too much fun at the beaches the day before. Two guests who did make it down for breakfast told me that a friend of theirs from Mykonos would be taking them on an early afternoon driving tour around part of the island. They had room for a fourth person, and invited me to tag along. They planned to visit some beaches I had not seen in a few years, plus at least one I had never been to before, so I jumped at the opportunity to join them.

Since I had a few hours to fill before the island drive about, but didn’t feel like laying in the sun by the pool, I took a walk into town. The streets were surprisingly quiet and empty with practically no vehicular traffic and pedestrians. It was incredibly serene — and almost surreal — hearing only birdsong and sound of my shoes on the pavement. I didn’t expect that, at 10 a.m., I would have most of the Tagoo area and much of Mykonos Town all to myself. A cruise ship was docked at Tourlos, so I fully expected to run into groups of tourists wandering around, but the parking area next to the Old Port (where the cruise ship shuttle buses drop passengers off) was eerily quiet. I passed fewer than a dozen people during my 10-minute walk between the port and Taxi Square.